Labor promise Western Bulldogs will play two games in Ballarat every season

[Maddog37]

Very limited space there though.

[Webby]

Yes, on Paul Daffy's article, it's true that North Ballarat really are the Collingwood of the Ballarat district. Loved by more than any club, but hated by most! Also, it's true that their ground is a long way from town and is in the middle of nowhere.

It's also windswept and far less pretty and atmospheric than City Oval and Eastern Oval. However, on the bright side, I think that's where the potential old fashioned home ground advantage comes in. The WO is as windy as any old league ground in Australia. Our guys train there year round, unlike some others who do so at more sheltered venues. Super windy conditions present a real advantage to the team accustomed to it. It was a genuine 2 goal advantage at WO in the old days. Etihad offers ZERO home ground advantage.

Also, there's a massive pool hall next door to Eureka as well as an indoor go karts track. Something to perhaps do as a pre match ritual.. Also, a bit of a road trip and perhaps an overnight stay could be a great excuse to get away from the wife for the night with a couple of mates. Grab a decent meal, have a few beers, maybe do some shopping on Sunday morning...

Give it 5 or so years and if we support the town by showing up, spending some money and behaving ourselves, we really can paint the town red, white and blue. It's an exciting thing for our club.

[Webby]

Just on the train home from Ballarat having dropped into the Eastern Oval for a quick squiz prior to leaving.

It struck me yesterday that the Northern Oval has virtually no embankments. It is 1,000 miles off an AFL venue, has zero "old world" charm and is double that of a stretched, reasonable walking distance from Ballarat Station. I'll pay it credit that it's a blank canvas and has plenty of space for development and parking, but it does have a distinct "Waverley" feel to it!

As things stand at present, it's a poor place to watch footy. It's badly in need of terracing. I'm reasonably tall, so could cope, but any shorter people stuck 4+ rows back needn't have even bothered. The only real terracing was under the scoreboard. The taxi driver we flagged down for a ride back into town told us that Nth Ballarat Footy Club specifically didn't want any embankments because the supporter preference was to park cars around the oval and watch from there.

Eastern Oval is 5 mins walk from the station. It is tucked away in a small valley amongst trees - offering good protection from Ballarat's cutting wind (which even this morning - mid March - will sting you!) it's got a really nice old stand and is very quaint.

Eastern Oval would make a beautiful, boutique setting for an AFL ground, but I can understand why North Ballarat is the preferred option. Nonetheless, I will say that it would be just as easy to start afresh on a blank site as to develop the Northern Oval!

Anyway, as for the Ballarat experience, it's so easy to get in and out of. It's the perfect size for a weekend visit, the pubs and restaurants are great, breakfast cafe options are good. It's very relaxing to just wander down to the station, swipe the Myki card and be back in Footscray in 70 odd minutes for about $8.

Although, I'll be packing a lot heavier in winter, that's for sure!!

[GVGjr]

The ground is adjacent to an industrial area so I wonder if that theme should be carried over. The primary need to is stop the wind cutting through the ground and the stadium design needs to focus on that.
I think it needs to have seating for about 10,000 and standing room for another 8,000 if it is to be a viable option for us to play two games per season. Get us much of that undercover given how brutal the weather can be.

[Twodogs]

Are there many residential areas near the ground?

[Webby]

I put a lot of thought into it over the weekend. A blank site would be easier than Eureka... Honestly, the current club rooms-cum-small stand that is there is completely inadequate and would need to be demolished, whilst the current light towers are planted right behind the fences.

I had a look at Eastern Oval and it is a beautiful setting. It also has a stand which would look the part with some newer stands nestled around it. It would fit far more patrons than the Northern Oval at present.

Then there's Ballarat City Oval. It's got an even nicer (and bigger) grandstand. Strangely, it's set a long way back from the ground as the oval is cut into a 'D' shape in front of the stand. Instead of the oval coming towards the stand, there's a big bitumen area. I'm not sure what the reason for that would've been. Perhaps they did that pre WW2 to allow marching bands or drill demonstrations or something like that. It seems to me that you could rip that area up, reclaim it as playing surface, improve the calibration of the ground and incorporate some newer stands. It struck me as having a heap of upside. It'd also do the local comp and tennant club (Redan?) no harm.

I think that would come up beautifully. Speaking of which, the QE2 oval in Bendigo came up a treat for the Pies Blues game this afternoon. It was a really good advertisement for Bendigo. I think Ballarat locals would want to put their best foot forward in hosting nationally broadcasted AFL games.

I follow a bit of baseball. I've seen some teams build some new ballparks with some genuine old world charm. If it is to be the Northern Oval, I hope they incorporate a bit of a nod to the City and Eastern Ovals into the design. Ballarat is a beautiful old city, so it's be great to see some of that reflected in the new stadium.

[Webby]

Are there many residential areas near the ground?

The closest you'd get to a house on the southern side of the ground is a car dealership. That's an advantage for development, I guess. However, based on yesterday's wind direction, the best place to build a stand (and block the wind) is the pocket which is, in fact, pressed up against houses.

Having said that, the wind may have been coming from an atypical direction, yesterday.

[Twodogs]

The closest you'd get to a house on the southern side of the ground is a car dealership. That's an advantage for development, I guess. However, based on yesterday's wind direction, the best place to build a stand (and block the wind) is the pocket which is, in fact, pressed up against houses.

Having said that, the wind may have been coming from an atypical direction, yesterday.

Sounds lovely.

[LostDoggy]

Regarding the location all that needs to be done is have 2 Courtesy Buses waiting at the station to drop people at the ground. Same for when the match finishes. If you don't get on the first round of buses, you will only have to wait all of 15 minutes. No worse than waiting for trams.

Whilst Eastern Oval/City Oval would be much better for the people coming via train, the locals would struggle to get a park within 15 minutes of each ground. I would say locals would make for 60-70% of the crowd numbers, so If we want to maximise crowds Eureka just seems the best option.

Driving is so easy. It's so simple to get too from the highway and there will be plenty of parking due to the blank space around the ground currently.

Once a grandstand is built on the other side of the ground much of the wind will be blocked out. Some simple alterations can make mounds/hills in the spots where no seating will be. This will solve the people not being able to see dilemma.

The biggest thing the ground has going for it is the actual playing surface. My uncle is in charge of maintaining the sporting grounds in Ballarat, the Bulldogs coaching staff were full of praise of the surface. Bevo even mentioned to my uncle after the open training session that the surface is better than the Whitten Oval.

[bornadog]

Regarding the location all that needs to be done is have 2 Courtesy Buses waiting at the station to drop people at the ground. Same for when the match finishes. If you don't get on the first round of buses, you will only have to wait all of 15 minutes. No worse than waiting for trams.

Whilst Eastern Oval/City Oval would be much better for the people coming via train, the locals would struggle to get a park within 15 minutes of each ground. I would say locals would make for 60-70% of the crowd numbers, so If we want to maximise crowds Eureka just seems the best option.

Driving is so easy. It's so simple to get too from the highway and there will be plenty of parking due to the blank space around the ground currently.

Once a grandstand is built on the other side of the ground much of the wind will be blocked out. Some simple alterations can make mounds/hills in the spots where no seating will be. This will solve the people not being able to see dilemma.

The biggest thing the ground has going for it is the actual playing surface. My uncle is in charge of maintaining the sporting grounds in Ballarat, the Bulldogs coaching staff were full of praise of the surface. Bevo even mentioned to my uncle after the open training session that the surface is better than the Whitten Oval.

Were there many locals at the game on the weekend, or too hard to tell.

[LostDoggy]

Were there many locals at the game on the weekend, or too hard to tell.

Bit hard to tell. Most of the Dogs/Dees fans I knew obviously went. Did know of a few mutuals who also went.

[Webby]

Regarding the location all that needs to be done is have 2 Courtesy Buses waiting at the station to drop people at the ground. Same for when the match finishes. If you don't get on the first round of buses, you will only have to wait all of 15 minutes. No worse than waiting for trams.

Whilst Eastern Oval/City Oval would be much better for the people coming via train, the locals would struggle to get a park within 15 minutes of each ground.

It’s a done deal that Eureka Stadium will be the venue for the games and the proximity to the station is easily addressed. My point was more just commentary on the “Locals Cold on Eureka Stadium Makeover” article from the Age on 7th Feb.
Most patrons will drive in and therefore need parking. Also, the big money plan is for Ballarat Racing, the Agricultural Society and local junior & indoor sports to be catered for in a precinct.

So within that, I’m just hoping that when they do develop the oval, they give a bit of a nod to the City Oval and the Eastern Oval and replicate a bit of that ‘feel’. When I walked down to the Eastern Oval, I felt that ‘fwoarrgh’ feeling for the place. Similar to the one you feel when you see the City Oval grandstand or the Queen Elizabeth Oval in Bendigo. They have ready-made showpieces which can be built around. I can see merit in the claim that the locals prefer those ovals. They are very, very nice.

North Ballarat’s ground has none of that ambience at present. It’s currently pretty underwhelming with just a 1980’s or ‘90’s era clubroom-cum-stand. Impressive clubrooms, but, aside from that it could be any suburban oval. Albeit with a great playing surface. However it must be said that most football-only ovals are in pretty good nick in March. The Northern Oval gets a bit damper in July!

Those clubrooms are (logically) built in the best mid-wing, south facing viewing position. This, of course occupies the most logical place in which to build a big new stand. It also blocks the best place in which to shepherd the northerly wind with a bigger structure. That’s a shame, but bye-the-bye, really. I just hope that they can incorporate a bit of design into the new stand(s) to make them look in keeping with the Ballarat feel. The newer baseball stadium designs in America tend to achieve that nowadays. I just wonder if anyone would be able to come up with something that fits the bill?

[LostDoggy]

Well Webby, I think you should contact the council and see if you can get involved. You obviously have the interest, and your thoughts / arguments are sound. I'm sure there will be a stage of community engagement that you can get involved with.

[Webby]

I'm not a Ballarat resident. They'd need me like a hole in the head. I'm just looking at it from a Dogs supporter's viewpoint in order to bring some understanding to the state of play up there. We might find that they appear a bit ho-hum about the whole "AFL coming to Ballarat" thing in future months. That or perhaps a bit divided as to the correct location for the development.

Thought it'd be worthwhile to bring some context for the benefit of other non-Ballarat Dogs fans. If they do appear to be a bit all over the place on the thing, it's good to know that it's not the WBFC they have an issue with, but rather the dilemma that many of them see with their council spending millions on a location for which they have very little affection.

[bornadog]

Eureka Stadium funding confirmed

$31.5 million of State Government funding has been confirmed for the redevelopment of Ballarat’s Eureka Stadium precinct, supporting the Bulldogs’ vision of home and away matches at the regional venue from 2017.


The Premier, Daniel Andrews and the State Minister for Sport, John Eren, joined Western Bulldogs President Peter Gordon at Eureka Stadium on Tuesday to announce the funding will flow from 1 July, 2015 as part of the 2015-16 Victorian Budget, with $2.5 million already fast-tracked so the project can start sooner.


The $31.5 million commitment includes $15 million for Eureka Stadium – to build a state of the art stadium for the region.


With funds set to flow from the start of next month, the City of Ballarat has appointed two architects – local firm Morton Dunn Architects, and Queensland based firm Populous, who developed the concept plan for Metricon Stadium – to review the precinct’s master plan.


The plan for Eureka Stadium includes new lighting, spectator seating and a video scoreboard that will support the Western Bulldogs ambition to play AFL home-and-away matches in Ballarat.


Speaking at the announcement earlier this week, Gordon said the Bulldogs were committed to a strong and permanent presence in Ballarat.


“We have spent a lot of time in Ballarat this year, talking to local businesses and talking to the local people,” he said.


“We want to employ local people from Ballarat to staff that office and they will be engaged in the activities of a community based football club,” he said.


“We run a number of programs in the Western region of Melbourne, our men’s health program is a world leader and we want to introduce that to Ballarat.


“In addition to that we will be doing our membership services and marketing to businesses and we want to be a seat at the table when issues in relation to the stadium or the stadium arrangements are played out.”